[Digital Today intern reporter Seung-a Yoo] Dario Amodei (다리오 아모데이), chief executive of Anthropic, forecast that artificial intelligence could overcome cancer, Alzheimer's, heart disease and mental illness within 10 years. The medical and biotech sectors criticised the remarks as unlikely to be realised and as an exaggerated claim ahead of an initial public offering.

On Nov. 11 (local time), Business Insider reported that Amodei said in a 42-minute IPO roadshow video released by Anthropic on Nov. 10 that "cancer, Alzheimer's, heart disease and mental illness will become relics of the past in less than 10 years." Medical figures and AI skeptics pushed back on X, formerly Twitter, against the forecast that AI could swiftly overcome diseases medicine has not solved for a long time.

Karl Lauterbach (카를 라우터바흐), a former German health minister, said AI could help treat cancer, Alzheimer's and mental illness, but that curing them within 10 years was impossible. He criticised Amodei, saying he did not know whether Amodei did not understand medicine or was intentionally misleading the public.

Melinda B. Chu (멜린다 B. 추), a medical AI researcher with an M.D. from Saint Louis University, said Amodei's remarks were meant to inflate expectations ahead of an IPO. She said Anthropic failed to show evidence that it could make a meaningful contribution to that goal. Rami Elghandour (라미 엘간두르), a biotech executive, also criticised the comments as absurd for an IPO pitch deck, citing his experience taking companies public twice.

The remarks come as Anthropic expands into new drug development. Anthropic has acquired several biotech startups, including a one-person company developing a treatment for muscular dystrophy. In an October blog post, it said it had begun its own drug discovery efforts. A source familiar with the company's situation said it also set up a lab in the U.S. Bay Area to examine how AI could be used in basic biology research.

Amodei has warned about the risk of AI misuse, but has recently also emphasised positive effects AI could bring to medicine. In an X post in August, he said the best way to persuade AI skeptics was to actually cure cancer. He also said claims that AI will cure cancer are trite and could be seen by the public as deceptive.

As Anthropic pursues an IPO with a stated valuation of about $1 trillion, criticism has also emerged that the remarks were aimed at raising investor expectations. Amodei said in the roadshow video, "If we do this right, we can create an era of miracles."